RTT: Watermelons, Cakes, Birthdays, ipods and...whatever

Hello! It's RTT! I have missed it for a few weeks now. WHAT? I know.




*Apparently the 6 weeks we took for summer vacation made me totally forget that homeschooling seriously cuts into my blogging/napping/movie time.  I have to actually teach and interact with Indy.  Whaaaaaa.

*What did people do before the invention of portable music?  Think????  Talk to other people???? On my way home from the gym this morning I realized that every single person had earbuds in and was busy looking at the ground. In the interest of full disclosure, I should add that I too was wearing earbuds, but I make it a point to look at (or at least try to look at people-hard to do when everyone's looking at the ground) people and nod or say hello. I think mp3 players are making us antisocial.

*Indy's BFF had a super awesome birthday party this weekend. It was Star Wars themed and Hoosier Mom (really, 3 months and no blog update?) made the coolest R2D2 cake. Seriously. It was amazing.  Check this out:

The legs are made out of Rice Krispie treats and iced.   She is a cake diva!


*James Bond carved the super cool Death Star watermelon in the background.  It is now official: watermelon is his medium.  You can see his watermelon shark and watermelon monkey brains by clicking the links.

 That's no moon.  It's a melon!

*Indy wants a Star Wars party next year (he told me this about a week before the pirate party this year) and said when James Bond carves the Death Star watermelon for him, we're going to put some fireworks in it and blow it up just like the movie.  Sigh.  He also wants a Han Solo in carbonite cake, like this one:

Double sigh.

*Is it really almost Labor Day Weekend?  REALLY?  Where did the summer go?  Of course here it's already chilly (high of 62 today), but still, Sept, already????

*Indy had his first soccer practice last night.  James Bond called me at 4pm to tell me that he'd gotten an email last week, that he hadn't opened until just then re: Indy's soccer.  We didn't know when practices would start (we were told to look for an email), so at 4pm, I learn that practices start at 6pm (that day!) and Indy needed cleats and shin guards before then.  Great.  We ran to the store (where they were mostly wiped out of cleats in Indy's size) to get a pair.  The only ones they had in his size were neon yellow and the only shin guards they had left were kind of a goldish/neon yellow color.  Fancy!  I'll have to post photos.


*Drat, Indy needs my help.  I guess I'd better go do something.  Before I do though, I'll leave you with this:

Go click the creepy button to read the other randoms.

Book...er, Wine...er, Movie Club?

This past Tuesday night I hosted my book club at my house (which is why I missed RTT-sadness). Once a month a different member hosts and August was my month. Now, you all know I like to throw get togethers and parties, right? Of course you do. Since book club is all ladies, I could do something fun and dainty and, well, girly. Yay! Our book was Persuasionby Jane Austen. Since it was a JA book (and who doesn't love JA?  No one, that's who), I pulled out all my fantastmic new flea market dishes with their beautiful transferware designs and planned my party.  At first I thought about doing an English tea, but who was I kidding?  We weren't going to drink tea!  We likes the wine.  In fact, when we say Book Club, it is usually accompanied by the phantom drink hand raise (you know, like you're holding a glass and bring it to you mouth), because, let's be honest, we do a lot more drinking of wine than we do talking about books.  Oh, sure, we do get some book discussion in, but not a whole lot.  Somehow we always end up talking about Twilight (squee!) and no, I'm never the one to bring it up.  Funny, how that works.
So, since I wasn't going to do a tea, I decided my lovely tea cups would be perfect for punch.  My menu included the following:

Super Easy Tortellini Salad (I have to thank Hope Studios for this recipe-it was amazing)

 Hot Spinach Artichoke Dip with home baked tortilla crackers (take flour tortillas, brush with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and bake until slightly brown-I use the spinach tortillas and they are delicious!)

Crab Salad (I also served some in cucumber cups-1-1.5" thick slices of cucumber with most of the center scooped out, leaving just a bit at the bottom and stuffed with crab salad)

Caprese Salad (tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella, fresh basil and olive oil-YUMMY!) and sliced french bread

Brie with crackers and fruit

Watermelon soaked in Prosseco

Sliced Chingalle salami and thin sliced Pecorrino cheese

Brownies

Cinnamon Crumb cake

The best punch in the world-recipe to follow

And of course plenty of Vino.

I am so grateful to Hoosier Mom (seriously woman, update your blog!) and another book club member for telling me to take a photo of the spread before we tucked in, otherwise I would have forgotten and it would only be a memory.  Tada!!!

Don't my dishes look fab?   Of course they do.  And now, for what's really important at "book club:"

Sadly several most of the members did not read the book!  There are usually one or two who don't but this time there were only two of us who read it!  WHAT?  This is a great book!  Funnily enough one of the members brought her copy of the movie and we decided to watch that.  It was fun!  I haven't watched a movie with a group of girls since I was in college.  We turned the subtitles on so we could still talk every now and then (mostly to discuss the costumes and who someone was) and ate, drank and chatted happily.   It was so much fun!  Sadly, I was having so much fun I forgot to take photos of the members of the book club enjoying themselves.  Ah, well.  I got a photo of the wine at least.




If you like period books, this is one to read and if you like period movies (even if they don't feature a wet shirted Mr. Darcy), this is a great movie!  Best of all, it's not expensive.  Click the button and pick up your own copy from Amazon!  This is really the best version of the movie.








Oh, wait, I almost forgot to include the best punch in the world recipe!  How silly of me.  It's super simple to make and your guests will oooh and ahhh over its sheer deliciousness.

1-12oz can frozen orange-pineapple concentrate
1-12oz can frozen lemonade concentrate
1-12oz can frozen limeade concentrate
1 liter Sprite or 7Up (I actually prefer it with 2 liters added, but that could just be me, you can always add more if you like)
3 cups cold water
1 bag frozen raspberries (do not thaw)
1 bag frozen pineapple (do not thaw)


Let the concentrates thaw and mix with water (stir well).  Just before guests arrive pour in Sprite (or 7Up) and add the frozen fruit (keeping the fruit frozen chills the punch!  No need for ice).
Sit back and enjoy your get together with a glass of this and graciously accept all the accolades your guests will throw at you for this amazing punch.  And don't forget to tell them that the super awesome MIHH gave you the recipe personally.

Do you like to throw parties and get togethers?  What's your favorite party recipe?  Blog about it!  Link back to this post if you like!  Oh, maybe I'll do a linky party!  Would anyone be up for that?  Let me know!  Speaking of linking up, I'm linking to Amanda at Serenity Now.

Yarrrrr! It be a pirate party!!

Ahoy there, me hearties! I mean, hello my lovely readers. I'm afraid my brain is still stuck in pirate mode. Yesterday we had Indy's 8th birthday and it were a piratin' we be was an awesome pirate bash. Indy started planning this the day before last years party.  He knew he wanted pirates and after the huge success of the Indiana Jones party, I knew expectation were high and I'd better do it right.  No pressure.  It rained for almost a week leading up to the party and I was freaking out slightly worried, but the day before the big party, the rain stopped and the sun started shining.  Whew!  I had a lot of prep work to do, but the super-duper awesome Hoosier Mom (seriously, loving you HM) did me a big solid-yo) by baking the cake for me. She baked and stacked it and covered it with fondant and the night before the party, we went to her house and ate Chinese, played a game called Yuker (which I still don't understand, but had enough beginners luck that JAG and I didn't do too bad-we played HM and James Bond), drank a lot of wine and stayed way too late considering we had a party the next day.  Oh, and we worked on the cake.  Silly me!  That's why we went over there.  James Bond drew the map on the cakes and I painted them on with food coloring.  It didn't take that long, and I think the results are awesome.  I owe HM big time.

The day of the party dawned clear and sunny and James Bond and I got to work.  We had games to set up, a party room to decorate, food to cook and a shark to carve.  Oh, that's right, James Bond was at it again with the watermelon carving.  Remember the watermelon brains for the Indiana Jones party?  Yeah, well, this year I saw a watermelon shark online and HAD to have it.  Had. To. Have. It.  I knew James Bond could do it.  It took him about an hour.

The kids started arriving and excitement was in the air.  We broke the kids up into 2 crews, headed by first mate, Indy and second mate, Mona Lisa.  The teams competed against each other for a bag of chocolate dabloons to be divided among the crew.  The losing team also got a piece of pirate chocolate each, but man they wanted those dabloons.  They also earned pirate gear with each game.  The first was "boarding."  They learned that while some pirates swung from one ship to another when attacking, others used planks to get across.  They had to cross a plank blind folded from one platform to another and not fall in or be eaten by sharks.  I stood in the middle of the blue tarp, proving that I really can do anything, including walking on water.  In heels.  ;)  They all received pirate bandannas and waist scarves for this feat.

 Me helping one of our little pirates

The second game was called "Swab the Deck."  They had to push a ping pong ball with a broom from the start to finish line and then hand the broom off to the next teammate.  This was hard, but loads of fun.  For this they earned a pirate earring.
The third game was the noisiest and by far everyone's favorite.  Well, maybe not the neighbors, but whatevs.  We tied a balloon to everyone's ankles (2 balloons per pirate) and the object was to pop the others while not getting your balloons popped.  Once both balloons were popped, they were out and had to go sit on the sidelines and cheer on their teammates.  The last person standing with a balloon won for their team.  This game went on far longer than I expected, but everyone loved it (again, except for the neighbors-12 children + balloons tied to them does not = quiet).  After this they received tattoos, eye patches and the most coveted of all: swords!  Hurrah!
While the kids battled each other on the playground for a few minutes, James Bond, the Contessa and I went to get the food.  Our menu consisted of the following:

Octopus (hot dogs cut and boiled)
Seaweed (green pasta with butter, Parmesan cheese and parsley)
Star fish and Hardtack (cheese and crackers)
Shrimp
Jellied Sharks Blood and Guts (red Jell-O with Swedish fish mixed in)
Fruit (to avoid scurvy)
Seaweed Dip and Crispy Shark Fins (spinach dip and blue corn chips)
Dried fish (Goldfish crackers)
Grog (Apple Juice and Sprite mixed together with punch ice cubes for sharks blood)

The kids loved the names of the food and took great joy in eating the "Octopus" and toasting each other with their pirate goblets.

Indy cleaned up in the presents department (mostly from mom and dad and the grand parents) and got loads of pet food donation to take to the local tierheim in memory of Miss Pepper.  You can click the box below to see some great photos.  BTW, James Bond lived up to his secret agent status by somehow avoiding being in a single photo. 

If you click the box below you'll see a lot more photos.

Scrapbook made with Smilebox

I'd like to note that it didn't take me almost a year to post these.  I'm getting better!  I personally don't think it was quite as cool as the IJ party, but Indy still loved it and that's what counts.  He's already got next year's party theme: Star Wars!  May the Force be with me.

Linking to:

I can't believe it' s been almost a year and I haven't posted this!

Do you remember the big Indiana Jones Birthday Party I posted the prep for last year? I promised to post photos of the actual party and never did! We're now looking at a big fat pirate party next month (pray for me) so I think it's about time I posted the photos from last year. It really was the most fun party we've ever done and now I'm under pressure to top it with pirates. Think I could get Johnny Depp to show up dressed as Captain Jack Sparrow?!?! Purely for Indy, of course. Or not.
Enjoy the photos and maybe it won't take me a year to post photos from the pirate party.

Photo album generated with Smilebox

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Baby Shower Fun

One of my downstairs neighbors (remember I live in stairwell housing) is expecting a little boy any day. She already has one little boy who is 3 and adorable and we are all looking forward to their new edition. Another neighbor, Classy Lady (seriously I love her because she's classy and classic, also her house is so homey I just want to stay there), the Contessa and I went in together to throw her a small shower. We all learned a very valuable lesson. When 3 people host a shower, it's super easy because no one has to do too much. Awesome. We held it at Classy Lady's house (thank goodness because I was not up to making mine party clean) and had such a great time. I made the cake and I was thrilled with how it came out. This is the first time I've ever used fondant icing and holy cow! it could not have been easier. I made a yellow cake and put strawberry cream filling between the layers. Check it out!





Here it is with some of the very simple decor we used.

For food we had smoked salmon, turkey, apple and cream cheese pinwheels, ranch cream cheese (dry ranch dressing mixed with cream cheese) and green chili pinwheels, fruit, hot artichoke dip, egg salad sandwiches, and candies made with pretzels, Rollos and pecans (at the request of the mom-to-be).



See these sweet little flags? I purchased the online kit (which comes with big banners, small banners, and 2 sets of beautiful place cards and menu card templates) from Notes from a Cottage Industries, Online Emporium. Aren't they adorable? One flag says "Welcome" and the other says "Baby." We forgot about a corsage for the Mom-to-be so I used 2 of the little flags, a bunch of ribbon and some pearls to whip one up quickly. You can see it further down.



Little baby clothes!!!


And here is Mom-to-be with the cake. Isn't she cute? If you look closely, you can see the corsage I made with the little flags.


It was a very casual, laid back event and we all had a great time and can't WAIT to have a little baby to coo over.

Oh, I was also in charge of favors for the guests. I wracked my brain for a few days (don't worry, I didn't hurt myself) until the other day when Indy and I were in -real (seriously, that's how they spell it -real, pronounced REE-al) and I came across these cute little candles for 1 Euro each. I loved them and thought they were almost perfect. Almost.


I took out the little warning insert (hey, we're all adults, we know how to burn candles), and removed the raffia. I added a little wired butterfly pick and a green ribbon. Now they were perfect!

Happy Birthday Mr. HH!

Today is Mr. HH's birthday! I threw him a party last night (because I'm awesome like that). We had a bunch of people over in our basement party room and it was so much fun! But don't take my word for it. I have photos!

Mr. HH and TOM (The Other Man). A birthday shot? Why not?


But wait! TOM needs to tuck in a towel in case that shot comes back. They had already downed a few bottles of wine at this point and were feeling no pain.

I did get a photo of the actual shot, but it was blurry. Boo. Mr. HH had a total of 4 shots. Why is it that people think they need to get you drunk on your birthday?

Here's the cake. And yes, there are 37 candles on it. We almost needed a fire extinguisher. Mr. HH asked for a strawberry cake (I may have cried a bit-that's my favorite cake) with white frosting. I also melted some strawberry jam in the microwave and put a thin layer between the cake layers. Yummy!


Can he blow out all those candles? From the faces of the onlookers, I'd say they don't think so.

But he did! And then there were gifts! Everyone knows he likes wine, so our neighbors went to Aldi and found boxes of red and white. They thought they were hilarious and classy! There's no specific type of wine, grape, region or vintage on the boxes. Just red and white. Awesome.

He got a Julia Child cookbook and someone gave him a Cuban (not illegal in Germany). Indy about had a break down though and came crying to me that Daddy was going to use tobacco and get black lungs and die. It was kind of funny and I was more than a little proud of him for his stance on smoking.

Too many drinks!

Even Handy Manny had one too many.

It was nothing fancy, but we actually had a lot of people there. I know it doesn't look like it from the photos, but I was too busy having fun to take many pictures. There were one point 22 adults and 8 kids. Good times!

TOM and TOM's Wife and their kids are coming over for dinner tonight. Steaks and wine. More good times.

Happy birthday Mr. HH!

The birthday party by which all future parties will be measured

We did it!   We threw the coolest birthday party ever.  Seriously.  Ever.  Ev-er.  It was an Indiana Jones extravaganza.  Indy could not have been more excited.  M and our AMAZING neighbors and I have been working non-stop to pull this party off.  I have the best neighbors in the world.   You can’t have them.  I couldn’t have pulled this off without them.  Here are a few of the prep photos:

Huh?  Huh?  How cool is that?  M and his ‘brofriend’ set up the base camp outside.  S (the brofriend) has cool stuff from all over the world and the party was an excuse for him to show it off.

We had an archeological dig site and the “Plank of Destiny”

In the basement of our building we set up Pankot Palace, a jungle and temple ruins. 


Doesn’t this look like fun?  I’ll post photos of the actual party tomorrow.  You’ll want to see those.  And yes,General and Mrs. Ham did show up and yes, Cooper made the General eat a chocolate spider.  The look on M’s face in the photo is priceless. 

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